Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2011
Single crystalline, ferroelectric BaTiO3 as material with the highest piezoelectric constants among the perovskites with ordered sublattices was implanted with 111In(111Cd). The electric field gradient at the Ti position was measured with perturbed γγ-angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC) while the crystal was exposed to an external electric field. A quadratic dependence could be observed: νQ(E) = (34.8(1) + 0.16(4) E/kV/mm + 0.080(2) E2/kV2/mm2) MHz. Point charge model calculations reproduce the linear change of Vzz, but not the quadratic term. The polarizability of the host ions of BaTiO3 is known to be nonlinear with respect to an electric field. The resulting quadratic shift of the electron density is reflected in the strength of the EFG.